The regulator said on its website on Thursday that in
December 2011 BlackRock Investment Management had made an untrue
report about its stake in UniCredit, ahead of the launch of a
rights issue by the Italian lender.

BlackRock said on Thursday it accepted the regulator's
decision, adding it had made a "technical error" when it
disclosed a cut of its stake in the bank to below 2 percent.

"In January 2012, BlackRock discovered the error, reported
it to the watchdog and offered to cooperate during the
investigation on the case," it said in an emailed statement.

According to Consob, BlackRock's filing in December 2011
gave a "false and misleading" signal to the market at a time
when Italian lenders were being hit by the euro zone sovereign
debt crisis.